Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural

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Colour in the Garden – from Acacia to Zantedeschia

A rather large gallery which was put together with a view to featuring, some of them at least, in talk being given at BBC Gardeners’ World Live this weekend by Nicky Roeber, one-time Garden Designer and who now works for my old firm at Syon Park.

I visited the show on Friday but sadly not Saturday or today when the talk was being given in the Gardener’s World Theatre. I hope it went well.

The theme of the talk was colour in the garden and referenced the colour wheel (explained and illustrated), the theory of colour (emotions, volume, aspect, season, space, mix and balance) and colours in action –

Contrast (opposites attract)

Harmony (Tints & shades)

Cool (cool hues)

Single colour (mix flower forms)

Hot (fierce & fiery)

Shady (Less is more)

Foliage (keen on green)

Seasons (the sun has its say!)

While emphasising the benefits of container displays –

Planting containers are great to :

introduce different colours in your garden or balcony

Experiment with colour.

Bring seasonal colour and emphasis

I wonder if the presentation was recorded at all, it seems that there was a lot of useful information and advice to be had. It has already got me thinking about a whole host of colour-related partnerships I’ve introduced in various planting schemes that I have put together. Understanding our relationship with certain colours, how they relate to each other, how they impact on our emotional response – these are all important factors to consider when putting plants together.

Looking back over a years’ worth of photographs was also a useful exercise. The gallery starts with Acacia and ends with Zantedeschia with an alphabet of plants (and alphabetically named picture files) but is not sorted into different themes, emotions or any other useful system. Just some of the images I thought might be useful to illustrate Nicky’s talk. Then again, there are over 14,500 pictures on this website alone – and several times that at home so there are plenty to choose from….

Teddington Gardener

These pages illustrate my love of plants and gardens, design and creative expression - learning more about horticulture and sharing the knowledge. Here you will find a showcase for my own photography, commentary on plants and places visited, horticultural know-how, a dose of inspiration and a seasonal diary for your garden.